Passing Destinies
by Lightning Comet
Summary: To save Relena's life, will Heero betray his friends? Formerly titled 'A King's Ransom'
1. Kidnapped!

The year is After Colony 200. Three years of peace have followed the conclusion of the Eve Wars. But even now, in this time of prosperity, there are those who would destroy everything the five Gundam pilots had worked to achieve.

It was just another quiet morning in the Sanq Kingdom as Relena Dorlian prepared to leave for another meeting of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation's representatives. As usual, her mind was preoccupied with two things: maintaining world peace and Heero, not necessarily in that order. 

"Relena, if you don't hurry up, you're going to be late," Pagan called as he went out the door, "I'll be waiting in the limo, so come out as soon as you're ready." He didn't expect to receive a reply. _She's one hell of a politician, but she takes forever to get out of the bathroom in the morning,_ Pagan thought to himself, _Women!_

Twenty minutes later, Relena still had not come out. Pagan was starting to get worried, so he went back into the house to check on her. He made his way up the stairs and over to Relena's private bathroom and knocked on the door. After receiving no reply, Pagan opened the door and looked inside, hoping not to catch Relena naked. He could hardly believe what he saw. The bathroom window was broken and there where obvious signs of a struggle. Pagan quickly ran downstairs and dialed the phone. "Hello, Mr. Milliardo, Relena's been kidnapped!

***

__

Milliardo Peacecraft's face became very pale. "What?!" He could hardly believe his ears. _This must be a joke,_ Milliardo thought,_ but Pagan isn't exactly the joking type._

"Mr. Milliardo, we must do something!"

"Just stay there, Pagan. Thank you for telling us, but there's nothing more you can do. I'll take care of it from here. Goodbye." Milliardo hung up the phone and headed out the door. "Noin, try and get a hold of the Gundam pilots. I'm going to Earth to see what I can do," he told his wife as he walked out the door.

"Oh, Zechs," was the only thing Lucrezia Noin said in reply.

***

Quatre Raberba Winner wondered why he and the other Gundam pilots had been called by Noin to come out to Mars immediately. "Does anyone have any idea why we're here?" he asked his fellow Gundam pilots.

"Hn," came Heero's reply.

"I dunno, but I bet we'll find out soon." Duo said, with only half his usual perk. It was never a good sign when Zechs and Noin told them to do something without giving an explanation.

Trowa was silent.

"Why don't you go ask Noin. Here she comes," Wufei had just a hint of arrogance in his voice. Being a Preventer, he already knew part of the story but was not authorized to tell anyone.

Noin ran up to the five young men. "I'm glad you guys could all make it on such short notice." She looked tired, as if she hadn't had much sleep in days. "If you'll come inside with me, I'll explain everything. I know this environment isn't too hospitable, despite how well the terraforming project has gone." Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Wufei walked into Zechs and Noin's Martian home, and found the TV on, the volume low.

Duo couldn't hold it in any longer. "Why are we here?" he blurted out.

Noin's reply was immediate. "Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlian has been kidnapped."

"WHAT!" all five pilots cried in unison.

"She's been kidnapped. Zechs is on Earth now, investigating. He says that it was a very messy operation. It's almost as if someone wanted us to know she had been kidnapped," Lucrezia clarified.

Suddenly, the TV broadcast was interrupted as a tall, thin, gray-haired man appeared on the screen. "I am Gihren Zabi, supreme commander of the former L2 Colony Cluster's Revolutionary Army. As of this moment, the L2 Cluster declares it's independence from the Earth Sphere Unified Nation as the Principality of Zeon. We also declare war on the Earth and anyone who supports it. As our first act of war, we have taken Vice Foreign Minister Darlian as our prisoner. If she is to be seen alive again, the Gundam pilot known as Heero Yuy will come to our colony, alone and unarmed. If you make one false move, Gundam pilot, we will kill the Vice Foreign Minister. That is all." The TV screen went blank.

***

As Heero's shuttle approached the L2 Colony Cluster, he began to wonder why he was doing this. It wasn't like him to walk into an obvious trap without some sort of escape plan. Except he couldn't have an escape plan, not without sentencing Relena to death. _Why do I care if she lives or dies_, he wondered,_ she's already brought about world peace, so she's not really necessary._ Heero couldn't understand. He had been trained by the Barton Foundation to live without emotion. _So I can't love her. Can I?_

The shuttle docked with Colony X18966. Several armed men were waiting at the docking bay. They escorted Heero out of the shuttle and into a small dark room. Heero immediately saw Relena in one corner, tied up and gagged. Before he could even think about rescuing her, a mysterious voice called out. 

"Well, I see you finally made it. My name is Gihren Zabi, but I'm sure you don't want me to bore you with fancy introductions, so let's get down to business. You're here because you saw my announcement on television. And you came to save your precious Vice Foreign Minister from being executed. So here are my terms. If you do everything I say, I'll keep the girl alive. If not… well I'm sure you can figure that out. Heero's hand twitched to reach for a gun that wasn't there. "Don't even think about trying to rescue her," Gihren warned. Only then did Heero notice the guard standing behind Relena with a gun pointed at her head. "So Gundam pilot, what is your decision?

"I'll do it," came Heero's reply, and he gave Gihren Zabi a look of pure hatred.

***

"Excellent, I knew you'd see things our way," Gihren Zabi couldn't be happier. "Your first assignment is to assassinate the president of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. After that, you and your Gundam will join our assault on the Preventer headquarters."

Heero's glare was as intense as ever. "When do we commence operations?"

"You'll need to be in position to assassinate the president at 2300 hours. Precisely five minutes after that, open fire. Then come immediately to Luxembourg to join the attack." 

"What if I don't show up?"

"You know what happens…" 


	2. Betrayal

Chapter 2

The year is After Colony 200. The L2 Colony Cluster has declared it's independence as the Principality of Zeon and begun a war against the Earth. They have also taken Vice Foreign Minister Relena Darlian hostage as the Earth braces itself for the upcoming conflict.

***

"This is unit 01. I'm in position to eliminate my target." Heero's words were as cold as the glare from his eyes as he prepared to assassinate the president of the Earth Sphere Unified Nation. Heero stood in the upper balcony of the chamber where the president was giving a speech in response to L2's declaration of independence. _It's almost been five minutes._ Heero carefully aimed the high power sniper rifle he was carrying. _This all seems so familiar,_ he thought. 

Suddenly, a memory resurfaced. A middle aged diplomat was walking down from the podium where he had just given a speech to greet several spectators, his young son at his side. The boy looked up and saw a man holding a gun. The man took aim and fired and the diplomat fell to the ground.

"What's going on!" Heero exclaimed silently as the applause of approval from the crowd below brought him back to his senses. His finger slipped and pulled the trigger. The noise from the gun alerted the security guards.

"Hey! Up there!" one of them yelled and pointed in Heero's direction, "There's someone up there! Get him!"

"Damn!" Heero cursed as he fled the conference hall, "Mission failed." He ran to his Gundam and took off.

***

"We've got enemy troops closing in on multiple fronts!" yelled an exasperated Sally Po, "They've broken through our initial defenses and have opened fire on the main base." Colonel Une was afraid something like this would happen. "Begin evacuation procedures immediately," she instructed Sally, "There's too many of them for our soldiers to handle." Sally replied at once, "Yes, ma'am!"

Out on the battlefield, Zechs Merquise and his small battalion weren't fairing very well. They were outnumbered ten to one, and the enemy's new mobile suits were more than a match for any of the old OZ suits that made up the Preventer military.

"We're going to begin evacuation of the base, and we need you to hold them off for twenty minutes." Colonel Une's face appeared on the main viewscreen of the Tallgeese III.

"All right," Zechs said in reply, "we'll hold the enemy at bay while you evacuate the base."

"Thanks, Zechs."

__

There's only one problem with Une's plan, thought Zechs,_ We can't hold out for twenty minutes._

***

"Now approaching Preventer HQ," Heero said coldly. "I'll complete my mission."

***

"What's that?" a blip appeared on Sally's radar station display.

"According to our tactical computers, it's… the Wing Zero!" answered a technician.

Cries of joy spread throughout the room. With the additional help of Wing Zero, they would surely win.

***

"Hey Heero, ol' buddy!" Duo shouted to his friend, "Boy am I glad to see you!"

__

Don't make this any harder on me than it already is, Heero thought as he took aim for the main base. 

Duo watched in horror as he opened fire, destroying the building and everything near it. _Why did he do that?_ Heero targeted a group of Preventer mobile suits and fired again. Suddenly it dawned on Duo._ He's here to destroy us! I've got to stop him._ Duo activated his Gundam's thrusters and sped towards the Wing Zero.

Heero noticed something headed straight for him. "Target confirmed: Gundam Deathscythe." He took aim and was about to fire when a transmission interrupted his concentration.

"Why are you doing this?" questioned Duo.

"I have no choice," the Perfect Soldier replied coldly.

Duo couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Bull shit! There's always a choice."

"Not this time…" Heero fired one last shot at Deathscythe Hell.


	3. Relena's Fate

Chapter 3

__

I've just killed my best friend. Heero was shocked as he realized what he had done. _First the person I care most about is kidnapped, and then I'm forced to kill the people who care about me._ "What should I do? TELL ME, ZERO!"

"What's he doing? If he was here to destroy us, he would have done it by now," Une stated as she stared into the tactical display inside Preventer HQ. _Unless there's something else going on here…_

"Commander Zechs! The enemy's shot down Deathscythe Hell."

"Heero!" The Tallgeese pilot sped towards Wing Zero. Once within visual range, he received a transmission from his Japanese foe.

"Zechs… kill me! I can't take it anymore."

"What do you mean? Can't take what anymore?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me."

"Yo-You just wouldn't understand. Now kill me and end it all." Heero sounded desperate.

"No, I won't kill you. That's the easy way out! If I kill you now, what about the rest of us! Well? What about the rest of us? No, you'll have to fight this war out, just like the rest of us!"

"Zechs, kill me now… before I hurt anyone else."

"AH! Damn you, Heero!" Zechs yelled with uncontrollable rage.

"If you won't kill me, then I'll walk away able to hurt more innocent people. People like Duo." _And Relena_, Heero thought as he departed from the battle. Enemy mobile suits were still pounding the Preventer's front line, but there was nothing Heero could do about it, not without endangering Relena.

***

The opening of her cell door awoke Relena with a start. She looked up from her cot to see a familiar face.

"Good evening Miss Relena, if you'll come with me, we'll make our escape."

"Dorothy?"

"No time to talk Miss Relena, we've got to get you out of here before the guards realize what we're doing."

Relena looked at the two men standing next to Dorothy. _Trowa and Wufei!_

"Hurry, Miss Relena!"

***

The boy stared in disbelief as his father lay in the hospital bed, clinging to life. His mother walked over to him, put her arms around him and said, "It's going to be all right, your father's going to be all right."

The quiet of the hospital room was shattered as a small round object crashed through the window.

"It's a bomb, run, son!" his mother called to him. The boy got out of the room just as the hand grenade exploded. Frightened and not knowing what to do, he ran out of the hospital.

Heero awoke suddenly; he had fallen asleep in Wing Zero's cockpit. _It was only a nightmare_, he thought, _but what was it about?_ Suddenly the communications window popped up on the viewscreen.

"Gundam pilot, you failed to assassinate the president." It was Ghiren Zabi. "Ordinarily we'd execute the Vice Foreign Minister, but I'm in a good mood. The Principality has just crushed the last bit of Preventer resistance. This is a glorious day! Return to X18966 for further instructions." The comm window closed.

***

As Heero approached Ghiren Zabi's office he heard voices coming from inside. He moved closer to hear well.

"WHAT?! The Vice Foreign Minister has committed suicide?"

"Yes," another voice answered, "She apparently strangled herself with the bed sheets in the middle of the night."

"Why didn't the guards notice this and stop her?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Miss Catalonia, as head of the security department I would have expected more of you. Please try to do better in the future."

"Yes Commandant Ghiren."

Heero turned and ran from the door, filled with rage.

***

***

Author's Notes

Hi everyone, I have a few things I need to clear up. First of all, let me apologize to everyone for taking so long to finish this part. I also have some bad news. I don't think I can write the next chapter until I get my hands on a copy of the "Char's Counterattack" movie. Second, about the title change. I think "Passing Destinies" was the title of one of the GW episodes, but I feel it is more relevant to what I have planned for the fic. Finally, if you've seen any UC Gundam series, you might be totally confused about why the Principality of Zeon is in this fic. Don't worry about it; just keep reading I'll explain things in a later chapter. Till next time!


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